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In yesterday’s post, I discussed some of the many things I enjoyed about the London 2012 games. This post reflects on some ways that organizers and broadcasters could make Rio 2016 even better. Here are some semi-random thoughts from a semi-anonymous Internet blogger. 🙂

Advice for the IOC and Rio 2016 Organizers

I have every confidence that Rio 2016 will be unforgettable. How could it not be, set in one of the world’s most beautiful places? I really hope Rio uses the games as an opportunity to show off its natural beauty and diverse culture. I also hope the games bring a financial boost that can help the country address the very real issues of crime and poverty that it faces. I know many of the 2016 venues are probably under construction already (especially with the World Cup coming up in 2014), but Rio could take a page from London’s book by using the games to highlight and revitalize many of the neighborhoods of Rio that tourists don’t often see. The city is really, really big—so show it off as much as possible!

In a more controversial suggestion, I’d love to see more co-ed events in the Olympics. 2012 was such a big year for women in the games, why not take it one step further? As a runner, I like women’s races… but I also sometimes like racing with men. Why stage two marathons when you could stage one? The same goes for triathlons. I’m hard pressed to see the downside of men and women racing together. There may be cultural issues here, sure, but the IOC already kind of forces countries to allow women to compete alongside men… it’s a short step to putting them in the same events. Some of the games, like equestrian competitions, already have co-ed teams, and separating the genders in some sports just seems archaic. Sure, it’s also more bodies on the field of play at once… but we all know that marathons and triathlons can be staged with thousands of participants. The marginal cost would be small, and the result would be a lot more excitement and the ability to more easily broadcast distance events. (See also my note below on the coverage of distance events, generally.)

My favorite pic from Brazil

Advice for NBC: Fixing an #nbcfail

In the U.S., NBC also really needs work on its coverage. I know that in broadcasting the games, it’s impossible to please everyone… but NBC does need to listen to criticism in a few areas. In Rio, there’s no reason not to show the opening ceremonies live. Given how long the broadcast is, even folks on the West Coast can tune in and catch part of it if they’re just getting home. If not, then just air it live in the East and repeat it for those in other time zones. It was baffling to me here out West that marquee events like the triathlons and the marathons were covered live at 3 or 4AM local time and then weren’t replayed during the afternoon/evening. Also, good luck if you wanted to see the open water swim marathon, which was barely promoted and buried in a weird time slot. What’s with the disdain for distance events?

It also incensed me that NBC continually touted “live online coverage of every event” when it wasn’t really available to everyone. If you had a premium cable package with a major provider, you were golden. But those of us who rely on broadcast TV couldn’t get live coverage—even of events that were being shown over the air! That wasn’t a classy move; it was false advertising. NBC should make at least some events free and live for everyone. They should also think about showing a more diverse selection of events over the air. Archery was very highly rated on cable, but I never saw it on broadcast. By contrast, volleyball and water polo were on almost every freaking day, and NBC seemed to have an aggressive marketing campaign for water polo that was totally baffling. I don’t care how many times you tell me that water polo is “just like ice hockey”; it isn’t ice hockey. That’s why we have Winter Olympics.

Yep, still not an ice rink.

NBC should also dial down the “filler.” Showing lengthy documentaries on the host country and past Olympic teams is not in and of itself a bad thing, but when you air this programming unannounced in the time slot reserved for Olympic coverage, viewers again feel cheated. Consider moving more of this filler to online content or air it in the weeks leading up to the game. As much as I love Oscar Pistorius, it was interesting to me that NBC aired Mary Carillo’s in-depth story on him once before the games on Rock Center, and then aired the same piece at least two more times during the games. I just found it odd that I saw that three times… and yet would have had to wake up at 3AM for the marathon coverage. Hmm.

With that being said, I’m sorry to see the Summer Olympics end for another four years. I hope some of you enjoyed them as much as I did!

How much do I love the Olympics? The answer is very, very much. I watched the opening ceremonies last night with a friend and really enjoyed them. Frankly, I don’t remember much of the heavily praised opening ceremonies from Beijing, but the reason for that is because I was a little busy in the summer of 2008–while the Beijing games were going on I was in the process of moving from New York to Arizona, so there was a lot going on in my life at the time. I remember watching some of the games from a hotel room in New Mexico… but that’s about it.

This time, I’ve got my calendar marked for a few choice events. The times here are listed in U.S. Mountain Time, but check your local listings to see where these will be broadcast where you are.

Swimming: Swimming events will be broadcast on NBC in primetime from tonight (7/28) until 8/4. There’s no particular event that I want to see, though I just learned that there’s such a thing as the swimming marathon (which is really a 10K). The women’s swim marathon will be broadcast August 9 at 11:45AM and the men’s is August 10 at 12:15.

Triathlon: Unfortunately, the triathlon is on the NBC Sports channel, which I don’t get, so I will try to watch it online. Triathlon events will be broadcast at 4:00AM (!) on 8/4 for the women, 8/7 at 6:30AM for the men.

Kayak: You know I love to kayak, and kayaking finals will be broadcast 7/31 at 10:00AM, 8/1 at 2:30PM, 8/2 at 10:15AM, and 8/3 at 12:35AM on NBC.

Running: I mean, duh, you know I wouldn’t miss this. Track and field competition starts on 8/3 but here are a few marquee events:

Women’s 100m: 8/4 8:00PM (NBC)

Men’s 100m: 8/5 7:00PM (NBC)

Women’s 800m, expected to feature Caster Semenya: 8/8 1:15PM (NBC–I think, the web site says this is the qualifying heats but doesn’t note when the finals will air)

These are what I’m most looking forward to… but who am I kidding? You’ll probably find me parked in front of my TV for several hours a day between now and August 12. Feel free to let me know any events that you’re excited about or anything I’m missing!